2023-06-20 11:00:02
In the conquest of space, danger is omnipresent. The risk is assumed by the astronauts, but how many have lost their lives? A brief overview of accidents that have cost lives during the preparation of a space mission or during a mission. Ground accidents that killed technical personnel are not included here.
The Space Shuttle Challenger takes off from the launch pad (A launch pad, in the field of astronautics, is a place where are…) Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center.
Credit: HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The drama has struck 21 times, informs us Nigel Packham, deputy director of safety and mission assurance at NASA. Five space missions, three from NASA and two from the Soviet Union, have been marked by fatalities. According to Jim Hermanson, professor of aeronautics and astronautics (Astronautics or spationautics or cosmonautics, is made up of all the sciences…) at the University (A university is an establishment of higher education whose objective is the …) from Washington to Seattle, these tragedies are often the result of a mixture (A mixture is an association of two or more solid, liquid or gaseous substances…) of unusual circumstances, material and human errors, and sometimes political and managerial decisions.
The two deadliest accidents are related to NASA missions. In January 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch, taking away its crew of seven, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire. It is the unusual harshness of the climate at Cape Canaveral which is in question, colder than anticipated, which has made certain O-rings less flexible. A leak of hot gas ended up causing an explosion (An explosion is the rapid transformation of a material into another material having a …), explains Jim Hermanson. The management of NASA, which had decided to maintain the launch despite the warnings of certain engineers, is also implicated.
In February 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during its re-entry into the atmosphere (The word atmosphere can have several meanings:), causing the death of its seven occupants. Until this tragedy, the descent phase was considered less dangerous than the launch. However, during the launch of Columbia, a piece of foam insulation broke off and damaged the edge of attack on one of the shuttle’s two wings, which then did not resist the high temperatures of re-entry.
Apollo 1, although never having left the Earth, is part of this blacklist. A ground rehearsal in 1967 before launch caused a fire on board the capsule, killing all three astronauts present.
Entrance to the Apollo 1 Tribute at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. This monument honors the three astronauts who perished in a fire on the launch pad on January 27, 1967, while training for the mission.
From left to right: Gus Grissom, Ed White II and Roger Chaffee.
Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Four Soviet cosmonauts also lost their lives. Also in 1967, the Soyuz 1 capsule crashed to the ground following a parachute failure, killing the occupant on board. The space race and politics are partly to blame, with the launch being maintained despite the capsule’s non-operational state to coincide with a political event.
In 1971, three cosmonauts died following a depressurization of their capsule. It is the only accident to have taken place outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The cosmonauts were returning from a three-week stay aboard the first space station (A space station, in the field of astronautics, is a space installation in orbit…) established by the Soviet Union, Salyut 1, but their capsule became depressurized upon their return to Earth.
“Fallen Astronaut”: the commemorative plaque left on the lunar ground on August 2, 1971 by the commander of Apollo 15 (Apollo 15 (July 26, 1971 – August 7, 1971) is a manned mission from…), which appears indiscriminately American and Soviet deaths up to that date.
Image Wikimedia Commons
Note that no deaths occurred during the main mission phase, in orbit or in the direction of the Moon. The fatal accidents all occurred on departure from Earth, on return to Earth, or during a rehearsal on the ground.
Today, around 650 people have flown into space, and this figure is rising sharply due to the growing number of commercial spaceflights. “There will always be risks,” says Nigel Packham. This is the price to pay for space exploration. The important thing is to understand these risks, which is what Nigel Packham’s team is working on, by collecting data (In information technology (IT), a datum is an elementary description, often…) to calculate precisely the risks faced by astronauts.
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